The pits of Hell await us
by Rhaegal Nymeria Stark
Summary: Revy is there in the garage when Balalaika snaps the neck of the Washimine clan member. And she wakes up from any delusions she might have had previously about Balalaika NOT being "death and destruction" in the flesh.


Disclaimer: Own nothing

Summary: Revy is there in the garage when Balalaika snaps the neck of the Washimine clan member. And she wakes up from any delusions she might have had previously about Balalaika NOT being "death and destruction" in the flesh.

**The pits of Hell await us**

She and Rock left the garage together, safely able to say that they were more or less shaken by what they had seen. Revy had had to support Rock's body, trying to make sure he didn't faint after what he had seen.

Revy wasn't really sure _she _wouldn't faint either. Because holy shit. What the hell had _that _been? Even Revy, who enjoyed watching blood flying out of peoples' heads after she'd shoot them had to admit, she was shaken by what she had witnessed. Her hairs felt on end, there were cold drops of sweat all over her arms and the back of her neck, even though it was the middle of winter for the Japanese nowadays.

She had helped carry Rock to her bike. The car had been parked by Rock himself. But she knew they'd need to get back to the hotel. She carried Rock over to the bike and hoisted one of his legs over the seat. She got on the front end of the bike and looped Rocks arms around her waist and told him not to let her go, under any circumstances. Rock had numbly nodded against her as she put on her helmet and had started up the bike.

The ride all the way to the hotel thankfully hadn't included Rock falling off of the bike so much as one time, which was something Revy was most relieved by.

They got to their hotel room and Rock practically stumbled into the room, still looking hazy over the trauma of what he had seen. He had stared out the window into the blackness of the night and had said quietly, "I'm going to go to sleep for a while."

Revy hadn't argued, even though the way he had said it had made her worried. She had watched as he had sat down and taken a rest. Eventually, Rock's quiet breathing and snores filled the room. After taking her coat and gun holsters off, dressed in her brown, leather, cowboy boots, skirt and tight, black, long sleeved shirt, she got herself a drink. Revy had sat across from her sleeping companion, holding her drink tightly, contemplating what it was she and Rock had seen in the garage.

What they had seen meant two things. Two things that ultimately led up to only one thing that mattered. One of those things was that Hotel Moscow was turning on the Washimine clan. And the Washimine were retaliating. This led to only one conclusion. War was coming. And Revy knew that it would be best for her and Rock to keep their heads down when that happened. Revy's eyes jumped to the snoring Rock.

The only problem was that Rock most likely wouldn't leave it alone.

Revy tried not to shiver, remembering the loud timbre of the "crack" that had shot through the garage and reverberated around the parking spots, when Balalaika had snapped that Washimine guy's neck.

The guy's name, what had it been again? Bandou or something? He had done what must have been the dumbest thing known to his clan. He had charged Balalaika with his sword, running at her while her back was turned. The thought still sent Revy's blood boiling with rage. Sure, what she and Rock had seen had been horrifying, but some part of Revy still wished that he were alive so that she could shoot him-empty both her guns into him for what he had tried to do.

And he hadn't even done it smartly either, for fuck's sake. If you're going to stab someone in the back, why bother throwing the sheathe of the sword onto the ground and have it make a loud clattering noise that everyone can hear and scream at your target so that they know that you're coming at them? Revy stopped herself from allowing a snort to come out of her mouth, knowing that it might wake Rock up. Bandou hadn't even been a _smart _fuck. Well, now he was a very DEAD fuck.

Still, even now it made Revy furious. That Washimine fuck had tried to _stab her_. He had tried to kill Balalaika. Revy's teeth clenched as she took a gulp of her whiskey. She couldn't think about this. She couldn't think about her girlfriend being in danger, or else she might be tempted to do something really, really stupid. Revy pulled the glass from her lips, thinking about that word. Girlfriend. She knew that Balalaika might find that word disturbing. Hell, Revy wasn't sure that SHE didn't find that word disturbing. But that was technically what she and Balalaika were, if there was a word that needed to be attached. They weren't just fuck buddies, and they both knew that by now. After almost years-they damn well had better be girlfriends by now.

And really, how dumb had that guy been? Going after the HEAD of an army trained mafia group, with just a sword and announcing that attack? Revy wasn't sure what the standards were for mafia groups in Japan were, but damn, sounded like the Yakuza really needed to step up.

Revy stared with what little sympathy she had at Rock. What they had seen in the garage, Revy had to admit, shook her. Not just because her girlfriend of surreally enough, of what were two years now had almost been stabbed by a samurai sword, but because of the brutality that Bandou had been killed with. Revy's hand clenched around the whiskey glass, remembering the look in Balalaika's eyes when she had told Rock to translate everything she said to Bandou before she killed him. The dead coldness in her ice blue eyes as she stared at Rock when she had given this order, then at her prey, Bandou, then at last, at Revy after she had snapped the Washimine family member's neck made the gunslinger's insides and bones turn to ice.

Revy was sure that she understood Balalaika's look after she had broken Bandou's neck. Why she had specifically looked at Revy after she had done it. Revy found the very thought hilarious, but she saw no other reason for why Balalaika had turned to her lover after she had done it.

Still, it was a strange thing to think, wasn't it? Why would Balalaika, the mafia boss of Hotel Moscow and the at one time captain of an entire army unit stationed in Afghanistan, be bothered to see how her girlfriend, who was simply a hired gun hand, and a survived former street rat, thought of the carnage? But that seemed to be exactly what had happened. After Balalaika had jerked her arms hard, the terrifyingly loud and vicious "snap!" had filled the garage and had made Rock whimper. Revy would kill anyone for suggesting she had done this, but she was almost sure now that while she hadn't exactly whimpered, she had made a sound close to it. She remembered how her heart had skipped a beat when she had heard that cracking noise and had seen Bandou go limp in Balalaika's arms.

Those same arms that had cradled Revy in them in bed so many times before. Those same arms that had held her tightly, almost tenderly whenever they were alone, away from all prying eyes. Revy wasn't sure why the sight had made her so uneasy. But it had. She had seen Balalaika kill before. Not just order a kill, but do it herself. But all those other times, she had seen Balalaika shoot. She had never snapped anyone's neck before, not that Revy had seen. The sheer power and strength in Balalaika when she had overpowered a full-grown man and had brutally snapped his neck-Revy was sure, she was almost completely sure that the bones in the man's neck hadn't just been broken, but shattered, that kind of strength was for lack of a better word, terrifying.

Revy had struggled against Balalaika a few times. When she had had nightmares and had woken up not knowing where she was or having a flashback and acting out. Balalaika had had to restrain her before. Usually it ended with her arms being pinned behind her back and slammed against the wall or the bed, Balalaika standing behind her and holding her captive till her prisoner eventually came out of it.

Revy had known what kind of strength Balalaika had before. And she had had no doubt before that the taller, stronger woman could have killed her at any time. Any of those times, if Balalaika had so chosen to do, she could have killed Revy and the gunslinger fucking knew it. It used to scare the shit out of her, but she had become sure or almost sure that the older woman would never do it, not unless the younger woman ever betrayed her or tried to hurt one of her men. And Revy didn't have a death wish, unlike her girlfriend, so neither of those options were actually options.

So she hadn't been afraid in a long time. Not until now. Not until she had seen what Balalaika was capable of at her coldest, without any need from her men or even a gun.

And that was why, Revy knew that Balalaika had looked at her, right in the eye, directly after she had snapped Bandou's neck savagely. Balalaika knew that the action would shake up her lover. And she wanted to know what Revy thought of it. Again, it seemed hilarious that someone like Balalaika would care about what someone like Revy thought of that action, taken in order for the older of the two women to defend herself, but Revy understood that that was what had occurred.

Right after Balalaika had given her disturbingly severe declaration of wishing for "death and destruction and domination and the pits of hell," then snapped the Yakuza's neck, dropping the man's limp body to the floor of the garage, the Russian woman had looked right at Revy and had stared. Revy had looked right back, feeling her heart pound fast and unforgivingly in her chest. She hadn't known it at the time, but she knew it now that she had been scared. Terrified. It hadn't just been because her girlfriend's life had just been threatened and that Revy had been reaching for her guns when she had seen the wooden covered sword that Bandou had unsheathed.

It had been the look in Balalaika's eyes when she had given her declaration. And it had been the sight of Balalaika lifting a full-grown man up off the floor of the garage and breaking his neck with such force.

During the entire time Balalaika had been speaking her Hellish desires to Bandou, Revy had had a stiff, unfeeling hand just above the handle of her left cutlass, right by her shoulder. She had stared, frozen, unable to do anything else except watch, silent.

Any fear that Revy had forgotten during her time with Balalaika, had suddenly resurfaced with a vengeance. And that was why Balalaika had looked at Revy just after snapping the man's neck. Revy was certain. Because Balalaika had known. She had just known. She had wanted to see Revy's reaction after killing the Washimine clan member. And she had gotten a reaction. A reaction that was far too similar to Rock's to be faked. It had been a reaction of fear. Revy knew that she couldn't take that back. And she wasn't sure if she even wanted to. She was positive that you'd have to be dead-actually physically dead, not just emotionally, NOT to be shaken even if it was only a little, by what Balalaika had done.

Balalaika had studied Revy for almost a minute, and Revy was sure now that she had been trying to gauge what exactly Revy had thought of the Russian for her breaking someone's neck that hard and viciously and…that easily.

Revy knew now that she had been afraid, but she had seen Balalaika's reaction to her girlfriend's response. Balalaika's face had almost softened and there seemed to be a lack of surprise in them as she nodded, almost looking sad for a millisecond, before her face hardened again.

She ordered Rock and Revy to be prepared to accompany her and her men when she called them and calmly sauntered past Revy, icy eyes catching Revy's huge gold-brown eyes. Just when Balalaika had passed Revy by, when her army coat covered right arm, one of her so, SO deadly arms had almost brushed against Revy's winter coat covered arm, the blonde had whispered gently to Revy, so silently that there had been no way that Rock would have heard, "The pits of Hell await me, my dear Rebecca. Whether you choose to join me is entirely up to you."

Revy sighed, staring at Rock sleeping in the comfy chair. Rock, she could tell, liked to think that he was above the blood and violence that her and Balalaika's world threw at him. But Revy knew SHE sure as hell wasn't. Rock sometimes seemed to fit in way too much into this world of normalcy and comfortable living. She suspected that Rock liked to think he was too good for all the blood and violence. Too good for hell.

She had never given much thought to heaven or to hell. But she was sure that if either one of them existed, she sure wasn't getting into heaven. So one way or another, she would be joining Balalaika in the fiery pits eventually. But she wondered, did she _want _to?

Revy took another swig of her whiskey and thought about the sadness in Balalaika's eyes when she had seen her lover's fear.

Revy hated whenever Balalaika was sad. She just hated it. As soon as Balalaika had left the garage, going to the car on the opposite end, to join Boris and her other soldiers, Revy had felt the regret of having ever shown her fear of her love to the older woman. She still felt that regret. Despite the fear still being present, Revy wanted nothing more right now than to seek Balalaika out and embrace her, bury her face in the older woman's scarred neck, kiss the older woman's scars and inhale her scent, to comfort the woman.

That night, later, more hellish events began to stir up. An associate of the Washimine clan, that scumbag, Chaka had started up trouble. He had killed off the Washimine servants and had abducted the Washimine heir. Revy had predicted it, and was in no way surprised when Rock had wanted to go to the rescue. And how could Revy refuse? Rock looked so forlorn when he thought she wouldn't help him. She didn't love him. Not in the way that she loved Balalaika. But she was protective of him. And didn't want him to be miserable. So what could she do?

So it was off to rescue the Washimine's princess. And rescue her they did. They rescued her and Rock, Revy suspected got a dose of reality. She hadn't heard what the Washimine heir had said to Rock, but it sounded like it had been rough for him.

She still found it funny that Chaka actually thought that she'd sleep with him. That fucking loser. What a fucking useless jackass. Revy had laughed when she had seen Genji, (Jumbo) slice into him and drop him into the pool.

It was a good thing that Genji had gotten to him first, before Balalaika. If Balalaika had ever found out that Chaka had desired what belonged to the Russian, being sliced open and drowned in his own blood and chlorine filled water was the least of what would have happened to him.

Chaka should have thanked Genji for getting to him first, before a much worse fate got to him.

Then Rock had made his biggest mistake of that trip. And considering the two of them and Genji had just risked their lives in that bowling alley for the Washimine heir, that was saying a lot.

Rock had spoken out of turn and Balalaika had made sure that Rock knew it. In that very same garage, where Rock and Revy had witnessed the Russian slaughter one of the Washimine's men, Balalaika grabbed Rock's shirt and threw him, one-handed onto the hood of the Russians' car, putting the barrel of her gun to Rock's face.

Revy this time had acted out of sheer panic. Before in the garage, she had panicked and had grabbed for her gun when Bandou had raced at Balalaika's back. But this time she was faster. Because this time, she was sure that the person attacking would succeed in killing their target.

Again, Revy's heart raced and sweat began to dot her neck, forehead and hands. It didn't help that Boris was aiming his gun at her.

She aimed one gun on Boris, the other on Balalaika. And she really, really didn't want to fire either. Behold, the one day where Revy Two Hands didn't WANT to fire her guns. And even more than that, the one day where Revy Two Hands didn't want to fire her guns, not just because of survival reasons, but for the emotion that had at one time been totally nonexistent to her, or what she had thought had been nonexistent.

Because of love.

Even as Revy was grimacing and sweating, the irony never left her. She wasn't just afraid of opening fire on Boris and Balalaika for the sake of her own life or for Rock's. But for Balalaika's.

If she shot Boris? It could kill the large man. And…Revy had seen Balalaika after her men had been killed by those little vampire brats. She had seen the damage that it had done to Balalaika. The Russian woman hadn't let Revy anywhere near her after that for almost months.

Revy hadn't taken the firing at her or Eda seriously on the night she and Eda had tried to capture the twins. She knew better than to think that Balalaika would have them kill HER. Eda had been the only one that had really been in danger that night. Revy had just been in danger of being injured.

Revy had no intention of making Balalaika feel like that ever. She never wanted to make Balalaika feel the way those twins had made her feel when they had murdered her men. Like a piece of the Russian woman had been ripped off and disappeared from the world. So if Revy could have helped it? She would rather not shoot Boris and risk killing him.

And if Revy succeeded in killing Balalaika?

The thought scared Revy. It really did. There had been a time when Revy had played around with the idea of fighting with Balalaika, seeing who would come out on top. Now she couldn't bear that thought. Her ever hurting-even killing the Russian woman? It was a terrifying thought for Revy. Even more terrifying than the thought of Balalaika killing her.

If Revy killed Boris, not only would she most likely be killed painfully, but she would be destroying Balalaika.

If Revy killed Balalaika…it would destroy Revy.

Revy couldn't be positive, but she was almost sure that she hated Rock in that moment. He hadn't just endangered himself, he had endangered her, and he had endangered both Boris and Balalaika. And he had threatened to destroy everything between Revy and Balalaika.

There were times when Rock really just didn't know when to stay out of the way.

After Balalaika _somehow _had decided to let them go, bursting out laughing, Revy thought she just might faint from relief after Balalaika walked away. She had been left with words of warning that she wasn't sure she quite understood. "Don't ever hope to have a life like his."

Twice now on this trip, Balalaika had left Revy with something to think about, and she wasn't sure she liked what it meant.

After Revy was done screaming at Rock, she realized she knew what the words, both sentences Balalaika had given to her meant. She could choose to follow Balalaika and join her. But being with Rock was not an option.

Revy had actually almost burst out laughing herself after she realized that. Funny thing was after what Rock had just pulled? Revy felt no temptation to be with Rock. If she had felt very little before, she felt none now. Rock's idiocy and almost getting Balalaika and Boris killed-hell, almost getting Revy killed too, was the last straw.

Revy realized that the reason why she was so pissed off at Rock wasn't for herself. She was pissed off because Rock had almost gotten her to shoot her fucking girlfriend.

Revy for a second, actually thought about shooting Rock, before composing herself. Rock was an irritating bastard, but she wouldn't shoot the guy.

And then Revy had picked Rock up from the house where the Kosua clan met with Balalaika and her men. And Rock had told her the Kosua clan was dead. Revy had rather not think about how that had happened exactly, but she had gone after the Washimine heir and Genji as Rock had pleaded with her to do.

Revy couldn't say she wasn't grateful for the fight with Genji. But goddamn. His sword hurt like a fucking motherfucker. After she had been bandaged up, she and Rock returned to Roanapur. Rock had gotten a package from Balalaika. The package chilled Revy. It was nothing but a simple picture. A picture of the Washimine's heir, Yukio with a bright red X marked across the girl's face.

It was such a simple thing, but it kinda gave Revy the creeps. She could tell that it turned Rock's stomach too.

What a way to mock someone's death. And Balalaika hadn't even really done it to mock Yukio, Revy knew. What would be the point of mocking Yukio? She was dead. There was nothing left to mock. Balalaika had done it to mock Rock. Rock who dared defy the Russian woman in the first place. What a cruel, gruesome, almost petty thing to do.

Revy still almost laughed at the irony. A cruel, horrifying, monstrous woman. That Revy knew she could never hurt, even if she tried. Because she could never want to. Because of love.

Revy gave what little sympathy she could offer to Rock. By now, that wasn't much.

When they got back to the dock, Revy left the Lagoon Company and Rock to stew away in his failure and went to Hotel Moscow.

As soon as she had reached the front door of the building, the men that she had come to rescue, even like a little, some of them she actually enjoyed the company of, Sergei, Alexander, Anatoly, Leonid, Matvei, Oleg, Pavel and Taras all saw her injuries and reacted to her surprise, with more outrage than she had expected.

Sergei had demanded to know if the "filthy coward" was still alive, and looked prepared to hunt Genji down himself. Revy reassured him that Genji was incredibly dead. Alexander and the others all looked proud of her, but angry that the woman who they had come to see almost like a little sister had almost been gutted so severely.

Revy was more touched by their concerned anger than she'd care to admit.

In the past two years she had spent with Balalaika, and spending time with the Russians as a whole, many of them had welcomed her over that period of time. After the first seven months, they had started treating her practically like she was one of them. She wasn't going to delude herself into thinking that that didn't have something to do with them knowing that she was in a relationship with their beloved Kapitan. She knew. But she liked a good portion of them and Balalaika insisted that a great many of them had come to care about her.

When Revy reached Balalaika's office, her cutlasses being held by Peter and Rudolf, she came in and as soon as Balalaika saw the condition Revy was in, Revy saw the horror and then the cold rage in the Russian woman's piercing blue eyes.

Getting up, Balalaika went around her desk and roved over to Revy with predatory grace.

Now, with almost her entire body injured and with no access to her cutlasses, Revy might have laughed again, for this time? Unlike both times in the garage, Revy felt no fear of the older woman. None. She couldn't hurt Balalaika. She knew that now. She just loved the older woman.

Balalaika reached out, face softening as she neared the wounded gunslinger. She took Revy into her arms, holding the smaller, younger woman against her.

"Rebecca." She whispered against Revy's scalp as she embraced the young woman tightly.

Revy buried her face in Balalaika's neck, giving a small, muffled moan at the blonde's scent. God, she had fucking missed this.

Maintaining the appearance of just being a hired gun hand to Balalaika in Japan had gone from tedious to torturous as time had gone on.

"He did this," Balalaika growled into Revy's hair. "Rock. He got you involved and the swordsman almost killed you."

Revy shook her head against Balalaika's chest, pulling away slowly, not able to get away from the older woman, since the scarred former soldier had her arms still wrapped tightly around her middle. "No," Revy said, ignoring the twitching pain in her limbs. "It wasn't Rock. I got into the fight willingly. It was my fault as much as his."

Balalaika scoffed. "Would you have even been in the fight if not for him?" She asked, eyes darkening. Her icy blue eyes that looked like the blue eyes of some ancient beast awakening from its slumber beneath an icy tundra, now looked like the dark depths of a furious ocean.

She said heatedly, yet somehow with no warmth in her voice when she spoke, "That thoughtless man might as well have tried deliberately to get you killed." Balalaika looked like she wanted to say more, but had decided to think better of it and instead went back to embracing Revy.

"Does this hurt?" Balalaika asked the younger woman, careful with how much she pressed against the gunslinger.

Revy grinned up at her lover. She stared into those two blue whirlpools of darkness and cold passion. "No. I'm good, sis. Promise. You know me, it'll take more than a Yakuza with a big-ass sword to cut MY ass up into pieces."

Balalaika snorted, leaning down and kissing Revy's forehead. "Don't make jokes like that right now." The scarred woman grumbled. "If I had known what you were going to do on Rock's behalf after giving him a ride from the Kosua clan's house, I would have broken Rock's arm right there and taken you off the bike and had you ride with us."

Revy chuckled into Balalaika's neck, wrapping her almost uninjured arm around the older woman's left shoulder. "Oh, fucking please, sis." She grabbed at Balalaika's gold hair and her fingers ran through the thick, glossy locks. "You know that would have caught peoples' attention. 'Sides, I couldn't just leave Rock there. I don't know what happened in that house, but I knew Rock would want a ride to where Yukio was going. Also it wasn't exactly Rock's fault. Yukio had him kidnapped. So I had to go after him."

Balalaika actually let out a deep, throaty laugh. Revy looked up at her, listening to the smoky, and wicked, yet strangely beautiful laugh that she had gotten addicted to listening to. Balalaika's body stopped shaking against Revy's as she leaned down, head laying against Revy's non-injured, left shoulder. She said, still laughing quietly, "I think if our Rock has been abducted by a schoolgirl of all things, I think he deserves less attention than sympathy and protection."

Revy tried not to wince. She hated admitting that Balalaika had a point. She was right, unfortunately. Rock had never belonged in their world. Maybe in a few years, Rock would become a powerful player, maybe even a new power in the city, but until then? He put himself and others at risk. If what had happened the second time in the garage was anything to go by, Rock didn't care who else was in danger. Just as long as he got to prove that he was the "good guy" in the situation.

Revy froze against Balalaika as she understood that. She had never really thought about it that way, but she wasn't sure she could stop seeing Rock in that light now. Now that she finally was thinking that, she wasn't sure she would ever NOT see Rock that way.

Was Rock's ego really that important to him?

"Is everything alright, _vozlyublennaya?" _Balalaika asked tenderly against Revy's ear and Revy shivered at both the pet name and at the sultriness in the older woman's voice when she had said it.

"It-it's fine, sis." Revy promised, nuzzling Balalaika's throat. Balalaika had called her that word many times before over their many sessions together. She didn't know what it meant and she almost wanted to ask. But she feared what that word might mean. Revy thought about the first incident in the garage, before she could help it. She shivered again as she buried her face in Balalaika's hair.

"I got the shit scared outta me, sis." Revy laughed. "When we were in the garage? That Washimine guy, he tried to kill you, and I wasn't fast enough."

Revy felt Balalaika pause, then gasped when she felt herself being lifted up off the floor and was whirled around, being seated down on the edge of the desk, across from the desk chair.

Revy looked up at Balalaika as the older woman released her and stepped back. Revy, startled, looked up from her perch at the woman towering over her. Balalaika put a deadly hand to Revy's left cheek, cupping it and making the young woman look at her. "You didn't need to be fast enough, little one." Balalaika said in a soft voice, her eyes unreadable. "As you saw, I had him under control. And dealt with him as I wished."

There was something about the way Balalaika said that that made Revy tense where she sat on the edge of the desk. Her shoulders stiffened and she looked her lover in the eye. Balalaika had phrased it like that on purpose. She was certain of it. Revy saw the challenge in those primal blue eyes. The question in them. Again, there was that question, had what Revy seen in the garage-possibly both times, scared her?

Revy smiled at the older woman, feeling a warm surge of protectiveness and affection for this woman with each second. She was sure now that she and Balalaika at times could understand each other without saying anything. There were times when Revy and Balalaika would be in the same room during a meeting and Revy was just thinking about how much she wanted food, and the next thing she knew Balalaika was speaking quietly with one of her men, Rudolf and Rudolf had come over a few minutes later, asking her if she wanted him to go get her some food at one of the nearby restaurants. Revy, never one to pass up food, had immediately taken up on his offer. She had glanced Balalaika's way, trying to show the words, "thanks sis" just by looking at the older woman. It looked like the message had gotten through, since she had seen just the edges of Balalaika's lips tilt up slightly.

Revy had dragged Benny and Rock along, since she didn't want people getting suspicious over it just being HER that Rudolf was getting food for. Dutch had suspected already what was going on, so whenever things like that happened, he kept silent and never brought it up. He just kept speaking with Chang, Balalaika and their respective men.

Rock had been weirded out the whole time. But Benny had gone along with it, passing jokes to Revy, as did Rudolf occasionally. Rudolf liked Revy. He was more expressive than Boris-(that wasn't saying much), but also made it obvious that he wanted to protect Revy and spend time around her. Whether it was just because she was fucking his dear captain or because he really actually enjoyed her company or both, she hadn't been sure at first, but he always had been.

He kind of reminded her of an older, much tougher, more burnt out, and war traumatized version of Rico at times.

While Rock had been pleasantly chatty with Rudolf, it had surprised Revy at the time that Rock's efforts were met with distrust on Rudolf's part. She had noticed that that seemed to be a unanimous reaction of Balalaika's men, when it came to Rock. Boris, Sergei, Alexander, all of them, they just didn't seem to trust Rock. They had been respectful enough, yes. But distrustful. Unlike Revy, they hadn't seemed to be willing to get to know Rock, and they hadn't seemed to like him. Revy hadn't been sure why at the time.

But she was starting to figure out why they had the kind of aversion that they did to him.

That hadn't been the only time Revy knew that Balalaika had read her. And this was far from the only time that Revy had been able to read Balalaika so easily. Rather than wait for Balalaika to check if Revy understood Balalaika's silent question, Revy said, not without a small, weak laugh, "Sis, I don't think it'll fuckin' shock you to know that you almost made me shit my pants when you broke that guy's neck. Holy shit, sis."

Balalaika looked at her, unsurprised, but Revy definitely caught the glimpse of sadness in the depths of those icy eyes. Revy reached out her not injured, right arm and took Balalaika's left hand in her right hand. She squeezed it, causing Balalaika's eyes to widen. Revy smiled at the older woman, bringing Balalaika's hand to her face, placing Balalaika's palm to her right cheek and holding the hand there.

"You scared me, sis," Revy said, "'Scared' as in past tense. I think I understand. What you were saying before. When you had Rock on the hood of the car." She didn't want to say, 'when you almost shot Rock.' That would involve an accusation. And Rock had brought that on himself, hadn't he?

When she felt Balalaika's arms tense and saw the older woman's jaw tense, displaying that the blonde was uncomfortable talking about this right now, Revy added, before Balalaika could assume that she was going to lash out about what Balalaika had almost done to Rock.

"I'm not pointing fingers, sis, I swear. I'm just trying to get my point across. Yes, at the time, you scared me. But I think I get what you meant before in the garage. It's okay. I…" Revy had come to a realization when she and Rock had come back to the Lagoon Company and she had asked Benny for a ride to Hotel Moscow. If Heaven or Hell existed, and she was going to end up in one of them, then even if she had a chance of getting into Heaven, she wasn't sure she'd want to go there. Not if Balalaika wasn't going to be there.

"I don't think I'll be getting into Heaven, sis." Revy chuckled, trying to ignore the still present nervousness under Balalaika's frigid gaze. "And if I were? I don't wanna go there. Not if you're not there with me."

Balalaika's eyes grew large at the admittance. Revy studied Balalaika's face for a while and watched as the older woman's hard gaze finally softened. The Russian stepped closer, arm removing itself from Revy's cheek and sliding down to her waist, her left hand joining it around Revy's other side.

She pulled Revy closer to herself and Revy wrapped her arms around Balalaika's shoulders, laying her head against the tall blonde's chest. Balalaika grabbed the back of Revy's hair and buried her face in Revy's neck. Balalaika removed her face from Revy's neck, but didn't stop embracing her. Instead, she lay her forehead against Revy's, blue eyes meeting Revy's gold-brown ones.

Revy shivered in delight at the almost soft and tender look she was being given. All at once, Revy understood. This was the closest they'd get to an impassioned declaration of love. Fuck, this WAS an impassioned declaration of love for them. Balalaika smiled, a real smile, not a smirk or a grin, an actual, genuine smile. She leaned in and her lips locked with Revy's.

Revy wrapped her wounded leg around Balalaika's waist, tongue caressing against Balalaika's, groaning at the heat in the kiss. She tore her mouth away from the Russian woman's and leaned her head down, mouth hungrily going to Balalaika's neck, biting possessively. Balalaika hissed out a delighted moan and a chuckle followed the first sound. Revy smirked into the pale, scarred neck, tongue sliding out and licking at the blonde's scars as she felt one of the Russian woman's hands undo her belt and felt the other cup her left breast and roll her nipple between long acrylic nails.

Revy groaned into Balalaika's neck as a flash of heat struck her groin. This was their declaration of love. Twisted as it was. Dark as it was. Vile as it was. This was who they were. Their twisted souls finding a home within each other.

**Corny, I know, but it kind of got me thinking what would have happened if Revy had been in the garage with Rock when Balalaika killed Bondou.**


End file.
